On Sunday evening - 31st July, 2005, the students of the 1st
year Post graduate classes, the MBA, MBA(Finance), MSc and
MTech classes presented a programme on the Theme of Seva
entitled 'Sevanjali'. The programme very well brought out
the inner significance of the ideal of Service as explained
by Bhagavan on a number of occasions. It was a combination
of dance, songs, story depiction and sharing of experiences
on the concept of Seva. The two stories which were used to
depict this were the story of Abu Ben Adhem and an incident
in the life of Shirdi Sai Baba.

The story of Abu Ben Adhem -- Abu whose only desire in life
is to serve his fellow men does not find his name in the
list of angels of people who love God. But he is astonished
to find his name at the top of the list of those whom God
loves. This stresses the fact that God loves those who serve
others and thus through them serve Him. The Shirdi Baba
incident was the one where a merchant comes to Baba and
prays for Brahmajnana but he is not ready to part with five
rupees required by Baba. Baba tells him that it is only
through sacrifice that one can attain immortality. How can
the one who cannot part with five rupees control the five
indriyas (senses) and the five bhootas (elements). Nature is
the best example of selfless servive. The river flows for
the sake of others. The trees bear fruit for the sake of
others. The cow gives milk for the sake of others. The body
is verily for the sake of serving others. The drama
concluded with the song 'Deen Dukhiyon Se Prem Karo mera Sai
Prasanna Hoga'. Bhagavan was very pleased with the
presentation and spoke with a few participants after the
presentation concluded.

Nowadays, Bhagawan has not been sitting onstage for long -
He has been going inside the interview room after sitting
outside for a few minutes, or going on rounds in His car.
But on the afternoon of Friday, the 27th of July, Bhagavan
blessed 4 speakers from the Prashanti Nilayam Campus of the
Institute to address the gathering in His divine Presence.
The first speaker was Sri Sanjay Mahalingam - a Research
Scholar from the School of Business management of the
Institute. He emphasized the declaration of Bhagavan as the
Teacher of Truth - 'Aham Satyabodhaka' and narrated a few
experiences to highlight this statement.

The second speaker was Sri Karthik Ramesh - a student of the
1st MBA class of the Institute. Karthik spoke about how he
had pined and prayed to be a student of Bhagavan over the
past several years and after five unsuccessful attempts for
some reason or the other, he was able to get an admission to
the MBA programme this year. But the one truth was that
during all this period of turmoil Bhagavan had been guiding
him through. Bhagavan blessed the speaker by materializing a
three diamond ring for him.

The third speaker was Sri B. Arvind - 1st year MBA Class of
the Institute. He spoke on the great good fortune we have of
studying and being in the Divine Presence of the very Avatar
Himself. He too shared a few experiences to highlight this
truth. The last speaker was Sri Dinesh Talreja - 2nd year
student of the MBA (Finance) class of the Institute. Sri
Dinesh elucidated on the fact that Love and Service were the
two wings of the bird of life and it was necessary to
fructify our lives by living these two ideals. To conclude
the Vice Chancellor Sri Anil Gokak expressed his gratitude
to Bhagavan for giving the students an opportunity to
express their feelings in His Divine Presence.

As a befitting conclusion to the grand Guru Poornima
celebrations at Prashanti Nilayam, on Sunday morning - 24th
July, 2005; the staff and students from the Anantapur campus
of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning organized
the distribution of sewing machines and wet grinders for 84
women from many villages of the Anantapur District. These
women were from different backgrounds and religions. This
was done after a careful survey undertaken by them based on
the needs of the women and their abilities. These were
distributed to empower them and make them independent enough
to earn their own livelihood. Those women who were not
physically capable of undertaking sewing jobs, were given
wet grinders so that they can earn their living through that
means. This distribution was done in the Divine Presence.
Each of the 84 women offered a rose at the Lotus Feet. They
were all given new saris also.

After the distribution was completed, sisters from the
Anantapur Campus rendered a musical offering - the Sai
Katha. It was perfectly complementary to the Rama Katha
presented by the brothers from the Prashanti Nilayam Campus
of the Institute. Thus the glory of both the Avatars - the
Treta Avatar and the Kali Avatar were sung during the Guru
Poornima Celebrations in the Divine Presence.

This day saw the proceedings of an Inter-faith conference at
the Sai Kulwant Hall. The proceedings began in the morning
after Swami arrived at the Sai Kulwant Hall, at 8.35 am. Dr.
Michael Goldstein, Chairman of the Prashanthi Council of the
Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation, introduced the speakers.
The speakers for the morning were from Islam and Buddhism;
representatives of Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism were
slated to speak in the afternoon. The first speaker was
Maulana Wahid Uddin Khan - Islamic Scholar founder President
of the Islamic Centre in Delhi. The theme of his talk was
'Islam and the Concept of Love & Peace'. He quoted many
passages from the Koran and the Hadis to illustrate how
Islam is a religion of Love. The second speaker was Dr. A.
T. Aryaratna - founder of Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka
and former President of World Parliament of Religions. He
opined that the more you study Religion in depth, the more
you discover that it is nothing but Love.

The afternoon proceedings started at 4 pm. Representing
Christianity was Father Henry Faren who expounds the
universal tenets of Love of all religions on TV and radio.
After Father Henry was Rabbi David Zeller for Judaism, who
has released the healing CD "Let go, let God". The Rabbi
wove several songs also into his talk. The final speaker was
P. S. J. Rama Shastrigal, Sanskrit pundit and scholar,
Asthana Vidwan of Padhuga Trust Madurai and Asthana Vidwan
of Rajarajeswari Alayam Ramnad Samsthanam. He spoke in
Tamil, with a translator simultaneously translating his talk
into English.